The Art of Editing Fantasy Fiction
Editing fantasy requires a specialized approach to ensure imagined worlds are coherent and believable. This guide visualizes the essential stages, tools, and principles for crafting immersive fantasy narratives.
The Three Pillars of Fantasy Editing
The editorial journey for a fantasy manuscript is a structured process, moving from the big picture to the finest details.
Developmental Editing
Focuses on big-picture elements like plot, pacing, world-building rules, and character arcs to build a solid narrative foundation.
Copy Editing
Polishes the prose for clarity, consistency, and style at the sentence level, managing unique terminology and names with precision.
Proofreading
The final pass to catch any lingering errors in spelling, grammar, and formatting before the manuscript goes to publication.
The Editor's Toolkit
Certain tools are indispensable for maintaining the intricate consistency that fantasy worlds demand.
The Style Sheet
An editor's "best friend" for fantasy. It's a master document tracking every unique name, term, and stylistic rule to ensure absolute consistency.
Editor's Core Focus
A fantasy editor's attention is divided among several critical areas to ensure a cohesive and immersive reader experience.
Forging Believable Magic
Sanderson's Three Laws of Magic provide a foundational guide for creating magic systems that feel earned and intriguing, not arbitrary.
1. Proportionality
An author’s ability to solve conflict with magic is directly proportional to how well the reader understands it. No *deus ex machina*.
2. Limitations
What magic *can't* do is more interesting than what it can. Limitations, weaknesses, and costs create depth and conflict.
3. Expand, Don't Add
It's better to explore the depths of a few magical concepts than to introduce many shallow ones. This prevents "worldbuilder's disease."
Avoiding the Pitfalls
Editors are vigilant for common mistakes that can pull a reader out of the story. Here are the most frequent issues to address.